This invention relates to power tools such as an electric drill which includes a chuck device for retaining a tool such, for example, as a drill bit and more particularly to such a power tool which includes a built-in chuck key.
Anyone who has ever used a portable electric drill knows that the chuck key used to loosen or tighten the chuck jaws of the drill is easily lost or is often misplaced resulting in many obvious inconveniences. Various solutions to this problem have been used or suggested. The most obvious is to tie the chuck key to the electrical cord associated with the power tool with a piece of wire or string. The apparent disadvantages need not be belabored.
Several prior art patents have suggested solutions to this problem. The following are examples: U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,807,732 for Electric Drill with Built-In Chuck Key issued Sept. 24, 1957; U.S. Pat. No. 3,174,365 for Chuck Key Holder issued Mar. 23, 1965; U.S. Pat. No. 3,728,038 for Improved Chuck Key and Holder issued Apr. 17, 1973; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,947,924 for Chuck Key Storage Apparatus issued Apr. 6, 1976. With regard to the foregoing enumerated patents it will be observed that these proposed solutions all suffer from one or more deficiencies. In some it is the mode of operation, in others it is the construction which either suggests unwieldiness, lack of aesthetic appeal or perhaps even a somewhat unsafe construction. Accordingly it becomes appropriate to provide in conjunction with a power tool equipped with a Jacobs chuck or similar construction using a chuck key, a device which not only provides permanent integral storage for the chuck key but also does this in a manner which is a safe construction and still permits an overall aesthetically appealing complete tool even with a chuck key permanently attached.